Abstract:

With the increasing demand for health care and the current resource constraints, more efficient and effective practices are needed in Finnish primary health care. This master's thesis studies the development of health centre activities using industrial engineering principles and methods. The aim is to understand the current health centre operating models, to identify problem areas, and to make concrete recommendations.

The Finnish primary health care operating environment and health care management literature are reviewed. The empirical section utilizes expert interviews, overt observation and researcher participation in assessing health centre activities. In this way, answers are provided to research questions related to the current operating models, problems, and improvement recommendations.

The main results of the study are the identified problem areas in health centre operations and the improvement recommendations. In researching health centre activities, both standard processes and routine or project-like processes were identified. Key problem areas identified are related to inefficient use of resources, challenges in administration and management, as well as job satisfaction. As essential improvement recommendations, a number of concrete changes are proposed in the management of operations, in the development of the staff and collaboration between personnel, and in the processes and services produced.